Confined length of reinforced concrete columns at various axial load levels

Abstract

The seismic performance of reinforced concrete columns subjected to various levels of axial load is assessed in the paper. An equation relating the confined region to the applied axial load is proposed and compared to the Algerian seismic code RPA99/V2003 specifications, based on the concrete spalling length measured on 16 specimens under different axial load ratios, obtained from the experiments. Results indicate that the length of the confined region of a column subjected to high axial load is underestimated in the above mentioned specifications.